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tv   Newsline  PBS  July 25, 2011 5:00pm-5:30pm PDT

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hello, there. glad you could join us on this edition of "newsline." it's tuesday, july 27th, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi. the families of the victims of a train crash in china are becoming impatient with the lack of explanation about the accident that killed 39 people. it caused them to derail and fall of the track. however the television reported monday night that high speed service has resumed the same section where a bullet train
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rammed into the back of a small train in wenzhou. they set up a panel of 20 experts to provide counselling for injured passengers. the victims families say they're unhappy about the handling of the accident. some spoke to nhk about how they feel. >> translator: the government should explain why the incident occurred despite what they call state as state of the art technology. >> translator: we want to know what the government will do to find the cause of the accident and how they will go about it. >> the bereaved families say they are being monitored to prevent them from collectively criticize the government. more than 20 high speed trains in china were delayed on monday because of a problem with transmission. the delays occurred in dingyuan
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county. the bullet trains failed between beijing and shanghai. more than 20 trains had been delayed. the cause of the incident has not been disclosed. the high speed service between beijing and shanghai become operating on july 30th but has en plagued with problems. strong winds caused transmission lines to short circuit. another had trains fail to start. using technologying provided by japan, germany and others are behind the problems. observers say the delays shortly after the fatal accident is likely to fuel concerns about the safety of china's bullet trains. china's aggressively expanding
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its railways to serve its rapidly growing economy. >> reporter: the high speed section between beijing and shanghai was opened on june 30th. the chinese government has pushed the railway project forward very quickly. it sees high speed rail as a way to close the economic gap between rich coastal areas and inland areas and keep the economy growing. china launched its first high speed train service in 2007 ready for the beijing olympics the following year. >> translator: it's so comfortable. it doesn't feel like a train. >> reporter: and a line between ijing and tiyanjing opened in 2008. there are now 9,600 kilometers
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of high speed track. that's four times the length of japan's lines. the chinese government wants to nearly double that to 16,000 kilometers by 2020. but the push for high speed rail has involved controversy. the railways minister was fired in february this year after being accused of corruption and having cozy ties with construction firms. his critics said he hadn't paid enough attention to safety. >> so how is the chinese public reacting to saturday's train disaster? here is a report from beijing. >> reporter: the chinese government of its high speed railway system. saturday's disaster has contradicted its craze and heightened public distrust. criticism has been streaming in
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on chinese websites. denouncing the high speed rail as the world's best. it was dismissed as a laughing stock. the accident is also expected to effect the chinese government's drive to export its rail technology. china has also emphasized the low costs of its rail technology and the offerings from japan and other nations. saturday's disaster deals a serious blow to china. not just performance and cost but also safety. will the chinese government be able to ease public distrust with its investigation?
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its own people as well as the rest of the world are closely watching. nhk world, beijing. earlier geno spoke to a guest professor. >> translator: thank you for joining us today. the ministry says that the train control system may have malfunctioned due to a lightning strike. and in the chinese train operating system, how are trains supposed to respond in the event of a lightning strike? >> translator: well, this is designed the same all around the world. so they assume that the device will break down when hit by lightning. and when the device breaks down, then all of the cars will be stopped. >> translator: but the train that was coming from behind was moving and it crashed into the stalled train which was ahead. how did this happen?
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>> translator: well, was the train really continuously moving or did it actually stop once and then start operating again? that part is still unclear. either way, the signal safety design is supposed to make the train stop. the fact that the train moved despite that indicates there may have been some human involvement. >> translator: and what can you tell us about the technology levels of the high speed railway in china? >> translator: at least in terms of research and development and the basic research, i believe they're very advanced. when you take man power or a budget, they have an abundance of both and far exceed what japan has. so their basic capacity is very high, but they have no experience in dealing with anomalies. >> translator: so they haven't conducted proper simulations.
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>> translator: that's correct. so i have urged them to do simulations of abnormal conditions to they can develop manuals on how to deal with these situations. but apparently that has not gone well. >> translator: and for the high speed railway, the carriages were built on european and japanese technology. but the operating system was china's own, it has said. so the system combines technology from various different countries. it's a combination. and does this combination of technologies have anything to do with the accident? >> translator: well, the operating system being a chinese design to be quite precise, there are some chinese elements but it's based on a european design. the rail track or the operating system, they've definitely combined technologies from many countries. i know for a fact that there are people who are concerned about that. there are two ways to look at this.
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that they make a great system by picking great things from all around the world or to say that it will not work because they are trying to marry things that are very different. so there are two different thoughts. >> translator: the chinese railway authority today resumed operations of the high speed railway. even if the cause has not been identified yet. what can you tell us about this? >> translator: well, finding out what the cause was is definitely something that they need to do for the future of china's railroad system. and to hastily resume operations in a way that might be negative is a bad choice. the first carriage carries information pertinent to the accident that is stored only there. and to destroy it and bury it is completely irresponsible.
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proof that needs to have been preserved should have been preserved. of course, it's best to resume operations as soon as possible. but that needs to be only after safety is guaranteed. when i look at the way that they've done this, the fact that they've buried carriages, that's really wrong. i find that untrustworthy. >> translator: thank you very much, professor. we've been talking to guest professor satuoru. to rethink their plans to invest in the country. about 1,000 potential investors from japanese companies attended a seminar in tokyo on monday. the cities held consultations with participants to try to attract investment. but some voiced concern
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following the fatal train crash. >> translator: china has rapidly improved its fracture but their operates aren't good enough. in other news, the man charged with norway's shooting spree and bombing says two more cells exist and are prepared to attack. >> reporter: anders breivik admitted at the first closed door hearing on monday that he carried out the attacks on friday. a bombing in central oslo and a shooting spree at the youth camp run by the governoring neighbor party on an island. at a news conference after the hearing, the judge says the suspect aimed to save europe from the muslim takeover and deal a blow to the governing
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labor party. n >> i think the whole nation and the whole world think he's done something wrong. and nothing can justify it. >> reporter: an investigation will mainly focus on whether anders breivik acted alone or if he had help. investigators searched the polish company where the suspect may have purchased explosive materials. the attack occurred suddenly in peaceful norway. people are hoping there will be more information as soon as possible. nhk world, from oslo. japan's nuclear safety commission has called for stronger measures to protect nuclear power plants against terror attacks. on monday, the commission held a meeting with nuclear experts to approve a draft report that draws on the lessons of the
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fukushima daiichi accident. it also says employees should be trained to deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility. the report calls for stricter personnel management at plants. it also says that some workers at fukushima daiichi since the disaster have had insufficient security clearance. one said the accident has taught terrorists how vulnerable society is to radioactive materials. the head of the atomic international agency said plans are going as planned. iaea director traveled to the facility on monday the day after he arrived in japan. this is his first visit to fukushima daiichi since the march 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the accident there. after visiting the plant, he told reporters he wore protective clothing and toured
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on a bus while being briefed about damage to reactor buildings and other facilities. he inspected the cooling operation to check on the progress of the stablization plan. he also met with workers. >> translator: it seems steps are being carried out as planned. i believe the prospects are bright because workers are doing everything they can to contain the situation. >> he added it could be helpful for future work at the plant such as taking out spent nuclear fuel rods. next we go to our bureau in bangkok. chi has met a new government official for the first time since march. have asked the government to keep dialogue channels with the
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opposition open. suu kyy met in the largest city on monday afternoon. tasked by the government with facilitating contacts with the democracy leader. both sides have described the dialogue as positive. suu has been told to refrain from political activities by the government. it was transformed into a civilian operation in march for the first time in 23 years. that followed a general election from which suu kyi was effectively banned. the government apparently hopes to show the world with this new meeting it is a genuine civilian
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administration. turning to the philippines, president aquino says he will boost the company's military presence to protect its territory amidst a deepening rift with beijing in the south china sea. during his state of the nation address on monday, aquino says his government will protect philippine sovereignty in the south china sea. he also announced a plan to upgrade the country's armed forces including the acquisition of new navy ships and helicopters. aquino said that manila does not wish to raise tensions. asia has long struggled with the problem of illegal refugees struggling to escape poverty and war. australia has recently been troubled by growing numbers of
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illegal asian refugees arriving in boats. on monday it agreed a new deal with the malaysian government to swap refugees for illegal immigrants. >> reporter: the long talk between the two countries on the controversy plan to swap people has come to a conclusion. the deal means that australia will send 800 to malaysia in exchange for 4,000 registered refugees. at least 6,500 people illegally entered australia last year alone. the imgrants sometimes endanger their own lives. on december 2010, a boat packed with asylum seekers crashed. they want to send a strong message to people by sending illegal refugees back to
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malaysia. >> this is an arrangement that sends a clear signal that malaysia and australia are serious about stopping people smuggling. >> reporter: malaysia has more than 90,000 refugees. that's a major financial burden on the country. australia pays for transport and welfare making it a good deal for malaysian government. but the deal has been severely criticized by human rights organizations. one reason is that malaysia has never ratified with united nations convention known refugees. >> i can give you an assurance on behalf of the malaysian government that all people will be treated with dignity. >> reporter: asia has long struggled with refugees. thousands of people leave home every year looking to a new start because of wars and poverty in afghanistan, sri lanka and other countries.
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demanding that australia and malaysia act responsibly and prevent the deal from leading to civil rights violations. nhk world. before we wrap up this bulletin, we look at an attempt by singapore to enter the record books. the city state has recently built what it says is the longest table in the world. the fully assembled table, about 160 meters long was put on dism display saturday in the middle of a road. singapore hopes that the guinness world records will endorse the bid. the organizers put on the event as part of the city's food festival managing to sell 550 seats to hungry customers. >> i always wanted to come down here. so it's fantastic. i think they're doing a fun thing. this is nice.
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>> the organizers planned the table at 120 meters but had to limit it as demand rose. try fitting that table into your dining room. that wraps up our bulletin. now let's look at the market figures.
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hello, there. welcome to your weather update. we're looking at changeable weather across japan today. lots of thunderstorms bubbling up in the afternoon. especially along the mountains. so do watch out for those strong thunderstorms as well as gusty conditions. back behind this low pressure system continues to move slowly across northeast in china. reports of heavy downpours in the area. looks like that rain will clear out of beijing but moves into the northeastern corner of china also the western sections of the
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korean peninsula. watch out for heavy showers as well as strong thunderstorms. down towards the south in around chongqing, we're looking for heavy rain to develop mere. the southern sections do stay dry. but much of indochina peninsula dealing with that monsoon. now for the philippines, lots of showers developing. we do have a tropical depression just to the east. it is showing signs of intensifying further as it makes its way across luzon over the next day. bringing additional rain in the next 24 hours. so flooding is going to be a big concern here as well as strong winds anhigh waves along the east coast. in terms of temperatures, it stays hot in china. shanghai reaches 37 degrees.
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very hot indeed. for the americas looking unsettled down in the southeastern corner here. watch out for the drenching thunderstorms picking up the energy from the gulf of mexico. couple of severe areas to watch out across the northern in the northeastern corner of the u.s. and canada. then behind the tail end of this frontal system, this low pressure moving over montana. northern plains, look out for the strong thunderstorms. looking showery down in the southwestern corner as well as western mexico. here temperatures stay very, very hot in the central and the southern portions of the u.s. 40 degrees in oklahoma city. 34 in denver. and 31 in chicago. now we take a look at europe. it remains very thundery and wet out towards the east. especially for the balkans dealing with that widespread rain and thunderstorms.
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this system is going to be making its way in a northeasterly direction. much of eastern europe looking unsettled out here. a new rain band coming in from the west is going to be reaching the alpine region next. turning things unsettled once again. nothing too severe is expected here. across the british isles, something cloudy here. a bit showery for norway, but nothing too severe. berlin in at 22 degrees. little bit warmer than yesterday. london 21 with sunshine. it stays very hot down in the southwestern corner. 33 degrees in madrid. here is your extended forecast now.
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our lead story this hour, the families of the victims of a train crash in china are becoming impatient with the government's lack of explanation about the accident that killed 39 people in the eastern province. the impact of the crash caused some carriages to derail and fall off an elevated track. however the tv station reported monday night that service has resumed on the same section where a train slammed into the back of a bullet. they set up a panel of 20 experts to provide psychological counselling for injured passengers. but the victims' families say they're unhappy about the government's handling of the accident. people who lost relatives spoke to nhk about how they feel. >> translator: the government should explain why the incident
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occurred despite what they call state of the art technology. >> translator: we want to know what the government will do to find the cause of the accident and how they will go about it. >> the bereaved families say they are being monitored to keep them from criticizing the government. "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. and "the road ahead" examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss "nuclear watch" and "the road ahead" on "newsline. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.
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